Members of the New Horizons team celebrate shortly after the flyby was confirmed (Picture: AP)

The unprecedented encounter was the last stop on NASA’s grand tour of our solar-system’s planets over the past half-century. The journey began 9 years ago, back when Pluto was still considered a full-fledged planet.

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Yesterday morning, a cheering, flag-waving celebration swept over the mission operations center in Maryland at the time of closest approach.

But until New Horizons phoned home last night, there was no guarantee the spacecraft had buzzed the small, icy, faraway – but no longer unknown – world.

A picture released earlier this month showing Pluto and its moon, Charon (Picture: AP)

NASA said the spacecraft – the size of a baby grand piano – swept to within 7,700 miles of Pluto at 31,000 mph. It was programmed to then go past the dwarf planet and begin studying its far side.

To commemorate the moment of closest approach, scientists released the best picture yet of Pluto, taken on the eve of the flyby.

Even better images will start ‘raining’ down on Earth today, promised principal scientist Alan Stern. But he had cautioned everyone to ‘stay tuned’ until New Horizons contacted home.